Genesis 49. Let's, uh, ask the
Lord to bless his word. Our father. Thank you for this
hour in which we can gather together, open your word and listen and
be taught of God. Thank you father for the desire
to be here. and the ability to be here. We pray that you would bless
your word, that you would bless us with the spirit of worship,
that you would give us understanding as your word is preached. Enable
me to rightly divide your word and to preach it in the power
of thy Holy Spirit. Help us this morning in what
we pray for ourselves. We pray for thy children, thy
servants who stand to preach throughout this world. Lord,
no man is sufficient for these things, but our God is our sufficiency
in all things. And we thank you that we realize
this. Father, in Jesus Christ's name
we pray, and amen. The title of this lesson is Jesus
Christ is worthy of all praise he's worthy of all praise the
subject this morning will come from genesis 49 let me read the
first well let me start reading in verse 8 through 12 judah Thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Now this is Jacob blessing his
12 sons. And he comes to Judah in this
part. Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall
be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp. From
the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched
as a lion, And as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him, unto Shiloh, shall
the gathering of the people be, binding his foal unto the vine,
and his ass's coat unto the choice vine. He washed his garments
in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall
be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Jacob is really
given a prophecy here of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who
this is about. Now, Judah was the fourth son
of Jacob. He wasn't, An eloquent man, he
was the one who interceded for Benjamin to Jacob to be able
to take him down to Egypt. He was a good intercessor. And when he was down in Egypt,
took Benjamin there, he ended up interceding for Benjamin to
Joseph. We looked at that here a week
ago. So he was a man, a well-spoken man, and respected by his brethren. But the message is not about
Judah. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who it's about. The anti-type of Judah. Jesus
Christ is the one who is worthy of all praise. We can't praise
him too much. Listen to Revelations 5.12. Same
with a loud voice. You know, when you say something
loud, you want to be heard. And his praise is to be heard.
It's not to be a hypocritical praise. You know, like we hear
so much of today. We'll praise the Lord or so much
of that is just hypocritical, but this is to be a praise. And
in heaven, it's a loud voice saying this same with a loud
voice. Worthy is the land that was slain to receive. He was slain to receive power. riches, heavenly riches, durable
riches, the scripture calls them, and wisdom, and strength, and
honor, and glory, and blessing. He's worthy of it all. There's
one man worthy of all praise, and all glory, and all honor,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now verse 8, you can change the
name of Judah to Jesus. You can just write Jesus over
that. Jesus Christ is he whom his brethren shall praise. That's
exactly why we are here this morning. We, his brethren, we
who believe are his brethren. He's our elder brother, and we
have gathered here to praise him. to give unto Him the glory
and the honor due unto His name. Jesus Christ is worthy of our
praise because He is, He is not just a man, and I've said this
from this pulpit, and Rupert said it many, many times from
this pulpit, He's God in human flesh. As I grow older, that
astounds me more and more. When I watch him, especially
in the Gospels, moving, talking, healing, dealing with sinners,
I'm watching God. I'm watching God work. I don't
have to wonder who God is, just open the Bible, and there he
is. There he is. He's revealed himself.
This is God. This is God picking up that child,
putting it on his lap. This is God stooping down, as
I said here in the sermon recently. This is God stooping down riding
on the ground. This is God giving the lame man
his legs and the blind his sight and raising the dead. This is
God. This is our God. This is the God who said, let
there be light. And there was light. This is
the God who created everything we see. This is him. what a unique person we praise
him because of who he is listen to first timothy 316 and without controversy great
is the mystery of godliness god was manifested, revealed in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into
glory. God was received up into glory. God receiving God. That's amazing. It is. That he's to be worshipped
because of his holy character. He's called in the Scriptures
the Holy One of Israel. You know, the world does not
think much of holiness, but God does. It's His chief attribute. You take away holiness and we're
in trouble. God is holy. His holiness ensures that He'll
do right because He's holy. He can do no wrong. Written in
1 Samuel 2, 2, this is Hannah's prayer. There is none holy as
the Lord. For there is none beside thee,
neither is there any rock like our God, but there's none holy
as the Lord. He's essentially holy. You and I were made holy in Christ. We are made that way. No one
made him holy. He's essentially holy. Intrinsically,
that's his intrinsic nature, holy. Isaiah 6.3, And one cried
to another, And they, you know, one cried to another. They didn't
cry, love, love, love. God is love. God is love. But God's love wouldn't be any
different than our love if he were not holy. They cried, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who they're
talking about. The whole earth is full. of His glory. Part of it's sitting
here. Part of it's sitting in Rocky
Mount. Part of it in Lexington. I can just name different places
that His glory, not just His creative glory, that's the glory,
but nothing like His redemptive glory, which is the subject of
the next message. But holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
and He's to be praised. We are to praise Him in the beauty,
it says, of His holiness. WE ARE TO PRAISE HIM, IT SAYS,
AT THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIS HOLINESS. WE'RE TO PRAISE HIM. AND THEN
HE'S TO BE PRAISED FOR HIS GREAT WORK OF REDEMPTION. YOU KNOW
THAT YOU, WHO BELIEVE, HAVE BEEN BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. YOU'VE BEEN
PURCHASED. HE HAS PURCHASED YOU. Christ
it says in Galatians 3 13 hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law a very real curse is very real a lot of people gonna
find that out in a little while but Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us where it is written
curse it is everyone that hangeth on a tree and he's to be praised
for his intercession for us He intercedes for us. He prays for
us. He does. He prays for us. In
Romans 8, 34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who can condemn me? Christ intercedes
for me. He's risen for me. He was delivered
for our offenses in Romans 4 and raised again for our justification.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification.
Who can condemn? I'm not condemnable. I'm condemnable
as far as myself goes. I can condemn myself for what
I've done. You can condemn me. We can say, well, I know what
you did. But nobody can make it stick. Satan is called the
accuser of the brethren. He can accuse all day long. He
cannot make it stick, because in Christ we've been justified. And he's to be praised for he
has conquered all our enemies. We have many enemies, far more
than we know of. But it says in Romans 8, 33,
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
who justified, it's God who justified this. You literally, and I, you
know, justification to a lot of people is just a cold doctrine,
but it's not to a guilty man. If you know what guilt is, the
guilt of sin, and the fact that God has justified you, cleared
you of all charges, that's a glorious doctrine to be justified. And we are to praise Him for
this. That song goes and we sing, and I think we're going to sing
it later, praise Him, praise Him. Our lives are to be lived in
a manner that praises Him who redeemed us from our sins. Ye that fear the Lord, He said
in Psalm 22, 23, ye that fear the Lord, praise Him. That must
be Psalm 122. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye that see to Jacob, glorify him and fear him. All ye that see to Israel, praise
him. And he says this, and here's
another reason we are to praise him. Thy hand shall be in the
neck of thine enemies, Judah, Jesus Christ. This shows his
power over all. He said, Father, in John 17,
thou hast given me power over all flesh. Jesus Christ has his
hand on the neck of every human being. Our Lord has many enemies, but
his hand is on the back of their neck to make them do his bidding
whether they like it or not. His hand is on the back of Satan's
neck, and he can only do what the Lord allows him to do. It's
right on the back of his neck. His enemies, as scripture says,
should be made his footstool. You know, he's called here, we'll
see this, that he's called the lion. In one place he's called
the lion of the tribe of Judah. And here he's compared to a lion.
Have you ever seen a lion when it catches its prey? You've seen
it on TV. I know you probably haven't seen
it in person, but you've seen it on TV. Where does a lion grab its prey?
Right by the neck, by the throat. That's where it goes every time. He may bring him down, but buddy,
he gets to that neck. And when he gets to that neck,
it's over with. Our Lord, his hand is on the neck of his enemies.
I mean, what a visual that is. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. You know, at one time, you and
I were enemies. We were enemies in our minds,
as scripture said, by wicked works. Aren't you glad his hand
was on the back of your neck? he brought you down in grace
now some he's going to bring down in wrath but he brought
us down in grace and he's caused us to submit to him now everybody's
going to every person ever lived ever shall live is going to bow
down to Jesus Christ some willingly and some unwillingly but it doesn't
matter they're gonna bow down that's a promise of God that's
a promise of God to his son he's promised that And I like this
statement, thy father's, and he's speaking Judah, thy father's
children. Christ said, I'm going to my
father and your father. And all God's children are gonna
bow down to Jesus Christ, willingly, willingly. He shall have the
praise of all the redeemed, every one of them. All God's children
shall be made willing in the day of his power to bow down.
You know, all the sons of Jacob, you remember whenever Joseph,
Joseph gave a dream and he said, he's going to bow down. They
all got mad. We're not going to do that. Well, here he's talking about
Judah, which is the Lord Jesus, the anti-type of Judah. He's
saying, all thy father's children are going to bow down to you. Here they are. Here we are. and
over the centuries and over the time to come, every one of God's
children is going to bow down to Jesus Christ. Every one of
them. Judah, he says in verse nine,
is a lion's wealth. This speaks of his youth. This
speaks of his strength. He's no weakling. When they looked
at the Lord, those Pharisees, they looked at the Lord, they
thought he was nothing but a weak carpenter's son. That's what
they thought of him. No, he's a lion's wealth. And
this also speaks of how he came into the world. He came into
the world as a babe. Unto us a child is born. He came
into this world as just a babe. But listen, no less a lion, no
less a king. He was born king, the scripture
says. Born king of the Jews. He didn't become one, he was
born one. A lion, though it may be a wealth, young it's still
what it's still alive it still is and he says here from the prey
my son thou art gone up christ was victorious at calvary not
satan not man it looked like they were didn't it if you were
able to go back and stand there and and well we can through the
scriptures and see him hanging on that cross, see him being
beaten, then see him hanging on that cross, who does it look
like is winning? It doesn't look like he's winning,
but who's winning? Who's getting the victory? He
is hanging there on that cross, he's victorious. He's victorious. When he cried, it's finished,
he gave up the ghost and was buried, and what happened? The
third day, he rose again. from the prey. You see, the prey
actually was not him. The prey was Satan. The prey
was sin. He overcame them and he cried,
it's finished. And on that third day after being
buried, he ascended on high and the scripture said he led captivity
captive. You see a lion, when it takes
its prey and it takes it down and it kills What does it do? It drags it off, drags it off,
and it drags it off and destroys it. It eats it. Colossians 2.15,
and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He spoiled principalities
and powers at Calvary, and when he rose again, He showed his triumph over them. They thought when they put him
in that grave, that was the end of him. They thought it was.
He walked right out of there in three days, on the third day. Colossians 2.15, I've read that
one. In 1 Peter 3.22, who has gone into heaven and is on the
right hand of God, You ever really stop and think
of that just when you're by yourself? Sometimes I walk around a church,
I walk around this building, this church building, and I,
from time to time, I think of the Lord Jesus Christ sitting
at God's right hand, right now, rolling and raining. And that
gives me such comfort. I tell you, when you're really
able to think about that, God gives you the ability to really
meditate on that. It brings such comfort. What's
going on in this world will not bother you because the Lord's
in control. It's His. He's gone into heaven
on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him. Not just heavenly powers and
not just the angels, but the powers that be on this earth.
Our president is in his hands. It's in his hands. He's in his
hands. The next one will be in his hands. If we have, I was
saying this to somebody the other day, if we have 48 more presidents,
God's already chosen who they're going to be. God's already chosen. He knows who they are, and they're
in His hands. All these powers and all these authorities is
given into the hands of that man, Jesus Christ, who's seated
at God's right hand. And everything that's going on
right now, and tomorrow and all the other tomorrows until the
end. All of that is bringing about the eternal purpose of
God that he purposed in Jesus Christ before the world began.
Brethren, we ought to get up every morning a happy people.
Every morning a happy people. My God is ruling and reigning
this world. Not Satan, not man. Jesus Christ
is. But now listen, he said, from
the prey, my son, thou art gone up. But it also says here that
he stooped down. He stooped down. You know, our
Lord had to come into this world. He had to come down into this
world. When I read first, when I read that, he stooped down.
The first thing I thought of was that woman called an adultery
thrown at his feet and he stooped down. He says he stooped down.
He stooped down in order to save us. He came into this world and
became incarnate in order to save us. He had to stoop down. Philippians 2, 5, Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of flesh, and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." He stooped down to it
in order that he might bring us up to glory. And it says he
couched, I like that. He couched as a lion. You ever
see a lion ready to pounce on his prey? Couches down, gets
down. And as an old lion, the ancient
of days. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
the ancient of days. He's the everlasting father. Isn't that what he said his name
would be called? Prince of Peace, everlasting father. They're all
one. They're all one. God the Son,
God the Father, God the Holy Spirit are all one. But it says
here, he couched as a lion, as an old lion, who shall rouse
him up? He's not afraid. Jesus Christ
is not wringing his hands. He's not pacing back and forth. I pace a lot. I do. When I get something on my mind,
I'll pace back and forth in that study. I'll pace around this
church, around this church building. You're the church. You know,
I try not to call this the church, the building, because it's not.
It's just a building. You are the church. And I, when
I walk around, I pace. I get something on my mind. He's
not pacing. It's settled. Scripture says that God's word
is settled in heaven. It's settled. It's just happening. You and I are just watching it
happen. You know, I was told by an old businessman that I
used to run a company for, and he was probably close to 70 at
that time. I called him old because I was
only about 40. But he told me, he said, you know, there's three
types of people. He said, there are those who make it happen,
there are those who know what's happening, and there are those
who don't know what's happening. There are those who make it happen,
those who watch it happen, and those who don't know what's happening.
Jesus Christ is the first. He's making it happen. Day by
day, the eternal decrees of God, Jesus Christ is making it happen. And you know what you and I are
doing? We're watching it happen. And thank God you know what's
happening. You know. You're not the last group that
doesn't know what's happening. You know what's happening. He's
bringing this thing to a conclusion that he's going to have his redeemed
people on that new earth. That's what's happening. He's
subduing all powers right now. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
15. He's subduing all powers to himself. All authority is
being subdued by him. And when it's done, he's going
to deliver up the kingdom to God, it says. He knows what's
happening. He's making it happen. He's not
afraid, our Lord's not afraid. But it says here in verse 10,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver between
his feet until Shiloh come. And unto him, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall the gathering of the people be. The gathering
of God's people shall be to him. But I'll tell you this also,
the gathering of all people shall be to him, because he's the judge
of the quick and the dead. All judgment's been turned over
to the Son. Now the gathering of God's people are gathered
by him and to him, but one day, oh, the whole of creation, all
the people that's ever lived, those who have died, those who
have perished in unbelief, they're gonna be called forth to him
and cast into the lake of fire, a very real event. But he says
here, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. In other words, a
lawgiver in a civil government will not depart from Judah, even
when they were under the Roman government at the time our Lord
came. Judah still had some authority. Judah still had some authority.
They still had a lawgiver. But when Christ came, all that
was destroyed. 70 years later, that whole place
was leveled. That's over with. We all gather
to Shiloh. Shiloh, Prince of Peace. Shiloh
means sent. Christ said he was sent by the
Father. It means the one to whom it belongs.
It all belongs to Shiloh. That's a beautiful name, isn't
it? Shiloh. Peace. It means peace and prosperity.
Spiritual peace and prosperity. Binding his foal into the vine
and his ass's coat into the choice vine. What did our Lord come
into town riding on? The foal of an ass. What's he
called in John 15? I'm the vine. That foal was bound to him. He
got on it and rode it. Rode it. What's such a clear
prophecy given in the scriptures? He washed his garments in wine
and his clothes in the blood of grapes. I have no doubt this
has reference to the cross. It has reference, I think, to
Gethsemane. You know, when he sweat great
drops of blood, it wasn't just from his forehead. I think his
whole body. His whole body sweat great drops
of blood, and it stained the garment he had on. No doubt,
it did. It was stained, it was made red
from the stain of his blood, and his teeth, and I'm gonna
close here, his eyes, rather, his eyes shall be red with wine,
and his teeth white with milk. Our Lord said this to Peter in
John 18, 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put
up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not drink it? He was,
someone said this, he was intoxicated with the wrath of God. The wrath of God just fell on
him. And yet he remained spotless, the Lamb of God, his teeth white
with milk. He knew no sin. He was made to
be sin for us, yet he remained the spotless Lamb of God. Does he not deserve all of our
praise? I'm telling you from the time we get up in the morning
to the time we lay down, our lives are to be lived in such
a manner that God Almighty, our lives, our walk, our talk, language,
it ought to be lived in such a manner that Jesus Christ is
praised and glorified. All right.